State cuts look grim for school districts

The state superintendent says some districts won't be able to make it through next school year if lawmakers further cut school spending.

The state board of education is asking for a $1-billion-dollar increase in funding, while a preliminary revenue blueprint shows a potential billion dollar cut if the state's income tax increase is allowed to expire. Springfield public schools interim superintendent, Bob Hill, says the potential cuts by lawmakers are "unconscionable":

"Any of them that could participate in that activity and ever utter any claim to hold the public's interest in their hands, and the interest of the children of the state, are lying through their teeth."

There's talk at the capitol about changing the school funding formula, although that would seem unlikely in an election year. One proposal would put most of the state's education funds in the same pot and distribute it according to districts' needs.